MediaMelon introduces new Content Aware Streaming

MediaMelon has introduced enhanced Content Aware Streaming, powered by MediaMelon QBR technology. For any screen size and resolution — including 4K and HDR video — MediaMelon Content Aware Streaming provides superior video quality while using bandwidth more wisely and significantly improving profit margins for content owners and service providers. The company also announced that two US content providers have selected MediaMelon to optimize their OTT streaming services and deliver the best possible viewing experience for every viewer.

The new capabilities available with QBR include cross-resolution support, which enables further improvements in streaming quality by choosing the right resolution and bitrate to maximize the quality per bit streamed. MediaMelon powered services can automatically switch to lower resolution streams when such a change does not cause degradation in viewing experience, even when there is enough bandwidth to stream at higher resolutions. At the same time, QBR cross-resolution minimizes the need to switch to lower resolutions and lower quality, thereby providing a more consistent, better quality user experience. QBR can also enable 4K resolution in networks that typically can only support HD streaming.

“We are seeing acceleration in market adoption for Content Aware Streaming and are continuing to enhance the capabilities of MediaMelon QBR with these exciting new product innovations,” said Kumar Subramanian, MediaMelon CEO. “Content Aware Streaming delivers value beyond encoding improvements alone, and with the introduction of cross-resolution optimization, publishers can further improve video quality in bandwidth-constrained networks, while also reducing their streaming costs.”

Two content providers in the United States have recently selected MediaMelon technology to be implemented as part of their video workflows. One deployment is for a live service that includes an OTT channel distributed to multiple outlets, while the other customer is utilizing QBR for on-demand OTT video streaming.

Content Aware Streaming improves upon traditional streaming technologies by allowing video to be played at a quality higher than could normally be sustained by bandwidth available to the viewer. Streaming companies and service providers utilizing QBR can gain significant benefits, including better video quality, lower streaming costs, and improved network utilization. Bandwidth requirements are reduced by 35% and video artifacts are reduced by 86% as QBR delivers higher image fidelity at fewer bits.